Electric vehicle manufacturer Canoo, the company that plans to locate a manufacturing plant in Pryor, Oklahoma made a series of announcements this week for expanded services in the region and in northwest Arkansas. It’s also moving headquarters from North Texas to Wal-mart’s backyard.
The firm said it will expand its Oklahoma partnership to include new research and development and customer support and financing centers—expansions that will bring at least 700 additional high paying jobs to the state. Another R&D center will be located in nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas and an industrialization center in Bentonville.
“Oklahoma is fast emerging as a premier location for global innovation, supported by a commited and inspiring group of businesses, family, educational and government leaders,” said Tony Aquila, Investor, Chairman and CEO, Canoo, Inc. “These transformational partnerships have helped build a skilled workforce and excellent research universities, making Oklahoma the right place to develop cutting edge software for our total EV solutions.”
Canoo is driving innovation in vehicle design, engineering and software development. Located in Tulsa, the R&D and software centers will support technology advances and spearhead development of proprietary software that improves vehicle safety and efficiency for customers. Canoo partnered with The George Kaiser Family Foundation (GKFF) to attract, train and retain a dynamic and globally competitive Tulsa technology workforce.
The customer support and financing center also will be located in Oklahoma.
“I am pleased Canoo continues to recognize Oklahoma is the right location to expand its operations and create hundreds of additional high paying jobs for our citizens,” Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt said. “Canoo Chairman and CEO Tony Aquila continues to be a great partner as we diversify Oklahoma’s economy and grow our footprint as a destination for global innovation.”
The announcement builds on Canoo’s strong existing partnership with Oklahoma. In June 2021, Canoo announced Oklahoma as the site for its U.S. manufacturing facility. That facility will create an estimated 2,000 high paying jobs.
“We have been working closely with Tony and the entire team at Canoo in the months since they made their announcement to locate their initial U.S. manufacturing facility at the Mid-America Industrial Park in Pryor, OK,” said Scott Mueller, Oklahoma’s Secretary of Commerce and Workforce Development. “This additional investment demonstrates their commitment to Oklahoma and the highly capable workforce we have to offer. Canoo has been instrumental in helping us work with their supplier network to continue the momentum Oklahoma has been demonstrating to become a hub for America’s electric vehicle industry.”
“I thank George Kaiser for his leadership in ensuring Tulsa is the land of opportunity, creating a path for families and workers to succeed. Working together, Canoo and the George Kaiser Family Foundation will amplify the impact of our individual investments in Tulsa and contribute to a more diverse, dynamic and competitive local economy,” said Aquila.
“We are excited to have the Canoo software engineering and tech hubs in Tulsa. The presence of these high quality jobs from Canoo can benefit from and complement the various public-private programs that are based in Tulsa, supported by GKFF and which specialize in critical areas such as automotive and software engineering, cyber security, advanced mobility, among various others,” said Ken Levit, Executive Director of GKFF. “I know Tulsa will welcome these new members of our community with open arms and support their success in every way.”
“Over the past year, we have made substantial investments in the City’s innovation infrastructure through partnerships like the 36 Degrees North Incubator at City Hall and the Greenwood Entrepreneurship Incubator at Morton – both of which have been executed with the goal of supporting the growth of the next generation of innovative companies,” said Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum.
“Canoo has already made transformative investments in northeast Oklahoma, and we’re grateful the company is furthering its commitment to our region and our workforce,” said Arthur Jackson, senior vice president of economic development at the Tulsa Regional Chamber. “Canoo’s planned software development center and partnership with GKFF will spur the region’s growing technology ecosystem and strengthen our efforts to attract and develop a highly-skilled, diverse workforce. Investments like this wouldn’t be possible without the strong public-private partnerships and regional collaboration facilitated through Tulsa’s Future.”
Canoo plans to establish another R&D center in Bentonville, Arkansas to study an advanced industrialization and low-volume production facility for small package delivery vehicles in the state. These and other investments will bring at least 545 high paying jobs to Benton and Washington counties.
The R&D center will be located Fayetteville, Arkansas and will support advances in vehicle electronics and powertrain. The industrialization facility will be in Bentonville.